Cf 1959 



6-22 



8-ie 



6-15 

 6-11 

 6-8 

 6-4 

 6-2 

 5-29 

 3-26. 



— r— 



400 



I ' I 



500 600 



700 800 



LENGTH (MM.) 



I ' I ' I 



900 1000 MOO 



6-221 



6-18 

 6-15 

 6-11 



y. 6-8 . 



« 6-4 



Q 6-2 

 S-29 

 5-26. 



• •102 

 »• 101 

 n- 100 



n- no 

 n- no 



n*l90 

 n- 68 



I ■ I 



400 500 



1000 1100 



LENGTH (MM.) 



Figure 7.- -Lengths of king salmon in 1959 Cook Inlet 

 commercial catch by sex an(j by fishing period. 



the approach was many-sided and involved 

 test fishing and stream surveys by air and on 

 foot. The surveys were augmented by inter- 

 views with local residents. 



Distribution 



There are many glacial streams tributary 

 to Cook Inlet in which salmon cannot be de- 

 tected visually because of extreme turbidity. 

 It is necessary for purposes of management 

 as well as to gain knowledge of distribution 

 to learn if such streams are actually utilized 

 by salmon. 



King salmon were thought to spawn in five 

 glacial streams on the northwest shore of the 

 inlet. To demonstrate utilization by king 

 salmon, these streams were fished with a 75- 

 foot gill net with three panels of 4-, 6-, and 

 8 1/2-inch mesh to capture adults, and with a 

 small-mesh beach seine to capture fry and 

 fingerlings. The streams and dates fished 



were: Drift River, May 23 - 29; Katnu River, 

 June 1 - 3; McArthur River, May 31 - June 3; 

 Chakachatna River, May 31 - June 3; and 

 Kustatan River, June 4-6. No adults were 

 captured, but fingerlings were taken in the 

 Katnu, McArthur, and Chakachatna Rivers. 

 We cannot say positively whether king salmon 

 use the Drift and Kustatan Rivers because 

 of the short time these two streams were 

 fished. 



The largest drainage system in the Cook 

 Inlet area and the one that supports the 

 largest king salmon runs is the Susitna River 

 Basin with an area of about 19,000 square 

 miles. The Susitna River and its five 

 main tributaries — the Talkeetna, Chulitna, 

 Tokichltna, Yentna, and Skwentna Rivers — 

 have a combined length of about 750 miles. 

 Most of our survey effort was on this drain- 

 age (table 7). 



Streams on the Kenai Peninsula shore of 

 Cool Inlet, in Turnagain and Knik Arms, 

 and along the northwest shore of Cook Inlet 

 were surveyed from the air and on foot 

 (table 7). Most of the area was surveyed 

 from the air because of limitations on time 

 and the difficulty of traveling by boat and on 

 foot. Most of the main streams were turbid 

 from glacial silt, and only the clear tribu- 

 taries where the fish could be seen were sur- 

 veyed. King salmon were observed in tribu- 

 tary spawning areas at elevations from 2,500 

 to 3,000 feet. As far as we could determine, 

 all of the king salmon streams in the Cook 

 Inlet district lie north of Anchor Point. 



Timing 



The timing of the escapement into most 

 systems was difficult to determine because 

 of glacial silt and because the first king 

 salmon observed were schooling at the mouths 

 of the clear tributaries. This behavior seemed 

 to hold throughout a system. Small groups split 

 off at each stream until the smallest streams 

 used by king salmon were reached. In the 

 smallest streams, the ultimate spawning unit 

 frequently consisted of only two or three 

 pairs of fish. 



In the lower Susitna River basin, king 

 salmon were seen in the Deshka River as 

 early as the end of May (table 7). They appeared 



12 



